Side bearing for railway-cars.



No. 674,000. Patented May I4, I90I.

E. CLIFF.

SIDE BEARING FOR RAILWAY CARS.

(Applicatinn filed Mar; 11, 1901,)

(No Model.)

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EDVARD CLIFF, OF NEVARK, NEW JERSEY.

SIDE BEARING FOR RAlLwAYmCARS.

SEIECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 674,000, dated May 14, 1901.

Application led March 11,1901. Serial No. 50,564. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD CLIFF, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Side Bearings for Railway- Cars, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in side bearings for railway-cars and it consists in the novel features, arrangement, and combinations of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

One object of the invention is to produce a thoroughly eilicient side bearing, and one es-l pecially capable of obviating the known difficulties incident to hauling the cars around curves, especially short and tangent curves, and permitting the ready straightening out of the cars into alinement with the tracks after the cars have passed around said curves.

A further object of the invention is to produce an eiiicient side-bearing structure possessing an upper member, a lower member, a series of rotary bearings intermediate said members and upon which the upper member is adapted to have an endwise-traveling movement, and an interposed spring memberwhich shall not interfere with the movement of the upper member on the rotary bearings and which shall take the initial thrust of the body- .Y bolster.

The side bearings made the subject hereof are particularly applicable to swiveling cartrucks and are applied in the ordinary manner intermediate the outer ends of the truckbolster and body-bolster.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, part-ly broken away and partly in section, of a side bearing constructed in accordance with and embodying the invention, the sectional part of Fig. l being on the dotted line 1 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a top view, partly in horizontal section, of same, the sectional portion of Fig. 2 being on the dotted line 2 2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section through the side bearing on the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, 10 designates a hollow base for the side bearing, said base being formed with the ears ll, which receive the bolts by which the side bearing may be secured upon the end of the truck-bolster (not shown) in a well-known manner. The base 10 is in the form of an elongated cup or casing having a bottom and an inclosing Vertical iiange 12.

The lower and upper members of the side bearing proper are designated by the numerals 13 14, respectively, and between these upper and lower members are disposed the rotary bearingsl, upon which the upper member 14 is adapted to have an endwise or traveling motion, while the lower member 13 can have no endwise or traveling motion, but is adapted to confine the rotary bearings 15 and to have a vertical yielding action by reason of the presence of the springs 16, interposed between the bottom of the base 10 and the bottom of the body of the said lower member 13. The lower member 13 is formed with the depending flange 17, which snugly lits within the vertical flange 12 of the base 10, but normally will not reach the bottom of the base 10. The lower surface of the lower member 13 is horizontal, and between this surface and the upper surface of the bottom of the base 10 are arranged the series of springs 1G to support the lower and upper members 13 14, and the upper surface of the bottom of the base 10 is preferably formed with hubs 18, upon which the springs 16 may be centered. The lower and upper members 13 14 correspond with one another at their facing sides, and each of said members is composed of a body portion of cast metal, in which is formed a series of elongated pockets 19 and a sheetsteel portion 20, which covers the entire face of the member and tits into said pockets 19, the sheet-steel portions 2O facing one another and having elongated pockets formed in them to lit into the pockets 19 of the members and to form, when said portions 2O are together, elongated chambers 21 for the rotary bearings 15. The edges of the sheet-steel portions or face-plates 20 2() extend outward beyond the vertical sides of the members 13 14. and form flanges 22, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and the purpose of which will be herein- IOO after described. The face-plates 2O 2O correspond exactly with one another, and they will be secured in position by means of the rivets 23,which are intermediate the chambers 21, so as not to interfere with the said chambers or the rotary bearings therein. The chambers 21 for the rotary bearings 15 are partly in the lower member 13 and partly in the upper member 14, as shown, in Figs. 1 and 3, and these chambers 21 are so proportioned with respect to the rotary bearings 15 that in the normal condition of the side bearing the facing portions of the members 13 14, surrounding the chambers 21, will be in contact with one another, so that the weight, which may under such condition be imposed upon the upper member 14,will be borne by the lower member 13 and springs 16 and not by the rotary bearings 15, whereby the latter are saved from being flattened. The chambers 21 at their central vertical portions are about equal in height to the diameter of the rotary bearings 15, and from said central verticalportion the upper and lower surfaces of the chambers 21 gradually converge toward their end portions, so that when the upper member 14 is moved longitudinally of. the lower member 13 the said upper member 14 Vwill ride upon the rotary bearings 15. Thus when the lower and upper members 13 14 are in vertical alinement with one another the rotary bearings 15 will be at the center of the chambers 21, and the facing portions of the said members surrounding the chambers 21 will be in contact with one another; but when the upper member 14 is moved in either direct-ion it will ride on the rotary bearings 15 and the latter will ride upon the lower walls of the chambers 2l. The lower member 13 has no endwise traveling motion with the upper bearing 14, but is capable of having a vertical motion upon the springs 16, which is of advantage in preventing the jarring of the parts, increasing the longevity of the side bearing, and aiding in the avoidance of flattening the rotary bearings 15. By making the lower and upper members 13 14 in the manner above described I attain the important result of securing great strength in the said. members with the minimum amount of labor, and in addition I am enabled to produce a roller side bearing possessing the interposed spring, and which shall not occupy more than the limited amount of space which is permitted for side bearings in certain classes of cars at present being built.

Upon opposite sides of the lower member 13 are secured the vertical clip-bars 24, which pass upward and have their upper ends eX- tended inward over the above mentioned fianges 22, the purpose of the said clip-bars 24 and iianges 22 being to prevent the upper member 14 from, in case of accident, leaving the lower member 13, but at the same time to permit of the proper longitudinal motion in said upper member 14. The iiang'e 12, surrounding the base 10, is formed, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, to accommodate the clip-bars 24 and permit the latter to yield vertically with the lower and upper members 13 14.

Upon the top or rubbing surface of the upper member 14 is formed the vertical stud or post 25 to engage the rub-iron on the bodybolster in order that the movement of the body-bolster may be communicated to the upper member 14, whereby said upper member 14 is compelled to move with the bodybolster during the curving of the cars.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The side bearing comprising the lower and upper members, the rotary bearings intermediate said members and on which said upper member may have an endwise movement, and a spring member supporting said lower and upper members; substantially as set forth.

2. The side bearing comprising the lower and upper members having in their facing sides the elongated corresponding pockets forming chambers, the rotary bearings in said chambers and on which said upper member may have an endwise movement, and a spring member supporting said lower and upper members; substantially as set forth.

3. The side bearing comprising the lower and upper members having in their facing sides the elongated chambers, and the rotary bearings in said chambers and on which said upper member may have an endwise movement, said chambers being on converging lines from their central toward their end portions and at said central portions of such depth that when said rotary bearings are thereat the said members will ycontact with each other at their facing sides, combined with the spring member supporting said lower and upper members; substantially as set forth.

4. The side bearing comprising the lower and upper members forming between them the elongated chambers, and the rotary bearings in said chambers and on which said upper member may have an endwise movement, said members each being composed of a body having pockets and a steel face-plate having pockets fitting the pockets in said body, said pockets in said face-plates forming said chambers; substantially as set forth.

5. In a side bearing the base having the vertical encompassing flange, the lower .member having the depending flange guiding on said flange of said base, and the upper member, said members forming between them the elongated chambers, combined with the rotary bearings in said chambers and on which said upper member may have an endwise movement, and the springs intermediate said base and lower member and supporting said members; substantially as set forth.

G. In a side bearing the base having the vertical encompassing flange, the lower mem- IOO IIO

IIS

ber havingthe depending flange guiding 0n Signed at New York, in the county of New said ange of Said base, and the upper mem- York and State of New York, this 9th day of to ber, combined with labe rotary bearings in- March, A. D. 1901.

ermediate said members and on which said T upper member may have an endwise move- EDWARD CL'IFF' ment, and the springs intermediate said base Witnesses:

and lower member and supporting said mem- CHAS. C. GILL, bers; substantially as set forth. GUNDER GUNDERSON. 

